Friday, July 29, 2011

I ran into Fatty on the Corner Canyon trails this morning. Fatty on his new Specialized and me on my new Cannondale. Instincts kicked in and instead of chatting about what's new, we quickly dismounted our bikes and exchanged them for a few minutes. Lifting them, trying out the suspension, etc. I was quick to point out that my bike had 3/4 of a water bottle in the cage and not one but two air cartridges on the seat post. Fatty was quick to point out that his bike had two water bottles in the cages. These details are important when someone else is holding your ultra light race bike. Helps them subtract the grams in their head.
After a few minutes, we were both satisfied and returned the bikes and went on our way.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

After racing SS the past few years, I busted out the gears for the PC50. I didn't do well (11th place in Expert 39) In fact, riding gears almost seemed harder than a SS in a weird kind of way. Maybe my muscles are just used to grinding up climbs and the abrupt change to gears messed with my legs. Maybe the extra weight of all those additional cables on my bar slowed me down (did I mention I have a fancy shock lock out remote on my bar?....that's one more cable), or maybe I had an off day. I'm not sure. But I suffered. I need to figure this out and fix it. Figure out how to spin AND keep my speed up.

I still have my SS and I still prefer to ride SS but I'm committed to riding gears for certain events and to help with recovery rides. I am 39 after all.

The PC50 course was a true MTB race. Big climbs, a lot of rock and roots, thick forest single track. I had a blast on the course. The best part was being rewarded with a 7 mile downhill to the finish. Nice way to end it.

Congrats to the USCS crew for pulling off another great race. We are lucky to have them putting on such great events in our state.

The Draper race should the best one yet. Especially if they include the new (phase 3) Rush trail. Not that I've ridden it. I would never poach a closed trail....never.